'House of Cards' Production Shut Down Indefinitely in Wake of Kevin Spacey Allegations

Netflix has shut down production on the sixth and final season of "House of Cards," following the controversy surrounding star Kevin Spacey.

In a joint statement released to Deadline, the streaming service and production company MRC confirmed that production -- which had just started in Baltimore, Maryland -- would now pause indefinitely while execs deal with the fallout from allegations that Spacey made unwanted advances toward actor Anthony Rapp when Rapp was only 14. On Monday, Spacey issued an apology to Rapp, but claimed he did not remember the alleged incident.

Here's the statement in full:

"MRC and Netflix have decided to suspend production on 'House of Cards' season six, until further notice, to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew."

Deadline reports that the cast and crew were informed of the decision to shut down on Tuesday morning. That follows another joint statement from Netflix and MRC issued on Monday, in which the companies said they were "deeply troubled" by Rapp's accusation, and were sending representatives to Baltimore to speak with the cast and crew directly, in order to "ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported."

It was also announced on Monday that season six would be the last for "House of Cards," though it's unclear if the decision to end the series had already been made, or if the show was cancelled in response to the Spacey allegations. Season six was previously scheduled to debut on Netflix sometime in mid 2018, but we'll have to wait and see when (or if) production resumes to know more about its future.